The greatest thing (or, depending on your perspective, the worst thing) about the internet is the fact that anyone can publish, and fast. This was true with usenet back in the 80s and 90s, became something academics and journalists got seriously concerned about in the early 2000s, and is now a fact of life. There is a lot of stuff on the internet; long form articles, blog posts, 140 character tweets, videos, podcasts, materials in all shapes and sizes. Everyone and anyone allowed to have an opinion.
It means, on one hand, information literacy is more important than ever. Everyone needs to understand that something looking slick and well-constructed doesn’t mean it’s authoritative. You can print your own books via the internet, so being in print doesn’t mean anything. You can write an article, like this one, and it doesn’t mean any publisher or editor looked over it and said, “Yes, this is worth taking up time in our magazine/paper/journal.”
The gatekeepers, while not gone, are a lot less powerful.
But think of how great that actually is! Everyone needs to learn to use their noggin while they read (“Do I agree? Is there any evidence for this? Why is this person saying these things? Who benefits from this opinion? Who is harmed by this opinion?”), which results in better thinking all around. And as a bonus, we can create a beautiful, classy-looking publication without the difficulty and expense, any time we like! We can put our ideas out into the world well in advance of the years it can take to publish through the old channels. Sure, it may not be tenure-worthy (yet), but sharing ideas, getting reactions and responses, exploring what it means to put our writing in public, to read and be read, those are all good goals. We learn better when we share and engage with each other’s ideas, even the wrong ones. Our own thoughts are sharpened, shaped, and changed by sharing and reading.
Services like Medium make it easier to do that. Write, share, engage. No code, no complication, no mess. Medium is interesting because it isn’t about the platform. You’ve probably read a Medium article before without realizing it. The focus of this platform, much like the focus of information literacy, is the content, not the publisher.
